Umbrella Against Fate :Revised:
by beaucoup riant
Summary: She was a demon who should be an angel. He was an angel who everyone wishes was a demon. They met on Earth and decided to change. And the only way was a union that binds forever. With it, they bring the world as they know it to end. CloTi. Revised.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** You know since my summer break has started [it's going to be a 3 month long break!], I've been reading books and fanfiction non stop. I've been falling asleep dreaming of stories I've read and want to write. This is all because of course I have yet to find a job. It's stressful but reading and writing is my escape from thinking such things. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the re-edits of this story. I personally like it a lot better so I hope you do as well. Please, please, review because if you should know anything about writers is that reviews are the food to the soul.

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_How impossibly soft she was, he thought as he cradled her in his arms. The blood spills against his skin and the grit that had gathered upon her clothing became just another layer between them. She cries softly, twisting the rough starches of his dark clothing in her fingers. Against her back, the tips of his wings with their feathers glide across her skin like a whisper of wind pressing a kiss. The feeling makes her press herself closer; it makes her enclose her wings tighter. Maybe if she could entrap them in this ball of two bodies and pairs of wings, the gravity of all that they have just done couldn't penetrate them. _

_She looks at him. Such beautiful and impossibly blue eyes with hair that was like the color of the sunlight itself was marred by scars and blood trickling from his face and body. Her eyes drift over and a small feeling of contempt rises in her. How could his wings still be so purely white? After the war they have just fought, how could his wings still remain clean and shining like a beacon? He senses her feelings and rough hands, although she knows they are oh so capable of gentle touch, encased in leather cups her cheeks and pull her into a brief kiss. _

_The kiss is distracting and that is exactly what he wanted. She doesn't know that he had been looking at the same thing and feeling the same way. How could such a beautiful woman, with long black hair that framed an angelic face with ruby eyes glowing with life, have such dark wings? How could they repel such light that seemed to be at the core of the creature he holds? How was it possible that after all the things she's done still did not bring light to those dark wings? He feels contempt because his wings should be as marred as hers was. All the bloodshed and the fighting he has done is more than enough to warrant the black wings. So he kisses her, drowns in the feeling of her lips in a brief flood to drive the thoughts away._

_They curl closer, lying in the starting pile of dust of their worlds, with his white wings covering their torso and her black wings hiding their legs. And they wait. They wait for the world to end and the pain to stop scorching._

_

* * *

_

As Zack watches the fight proceeds from his position at the top of the stadium, he can't help but think there isn't a single person in this world that could fight the way Cloud does. It is breathtaking the amount of strength he exerts from such a thin body, seemingly out of no where. The magic he draws out gives him and others tingles when they witness it. When they witness their prince fight, they know his opponent will fall. There is no doubt and in the battlefield, Cloud has their faith.

But off the battlefield, Zack knows that there is nothing but fear and contempt for their prince. They know that what makes him dangerous and successful on the battlefield is a threat to them off of it. Because when Cloud fights, he is under the spell of the demon in his mind. That demon is what makes him powerful but Zack has seen some occasions when Cloud tries to struggle to push the demon back.

Like he was now. Cloud's opponent was lying in a heap of broken limbs and blood while Cloud was standing five feet away with his large sword in his hand, struggling. To everyone else, it would only seem that their prince was angry. To the trained eye, however, his eyes were flickering between green and blue. Zack could see the wisps of the black magic wrapping itself around his friend's neck. A few blinks, and it was closing in on his windpipe. And Zack clings on to hope.

Cloud was shaking. He was screaming inside of his mind. He doesn't quite feel the sword in his hand and the way he clenches it tightly. Panting and struggling, he tried to push his way through the thick black fog surrounding him. He has to get to it! He has to!

The black whips around him, winds of high speed that slits at his body. When he sees the monster in his mind, he tackles it. He doesn't think. There is no time to think. Any moment lost means he'll lose. Cloud pushed it back into the darkness, shoves him deeply beneath his subconscious. Don't come out, don't come back!

He opens his eyes and the bright lights blinds him. He doesn't want to look at the blood on his sword and on the floor from the barely breathing body across from him. But he does and he knows he did it, even if he couldn't control himself when he fought him. His ears are ringing with the sound of screams and cheers from the audience. Cloud closes his eyes, focuses and pulls up the walls to protect his sanity again.

Cloud tries not to think as he walks out of the arena. Tries not to notice the sudden quietness of the crowd as he fades from their vision. When he is out of sight, it is like a light switch has been turned off. In the dark, secrets are free to flow.

"_Such a deadly creature."_

"_He doesn't deserve his title."_

"_Why does the Queen even let him live?"_

"_Did you see him when he fought? Didn't even seem to show any emotion!"_

"_He was so close to killing a fellow angel."_

"_This is why he should've been born a __**demon**__!"_

And he tries not to hear the whispers that carry through the wind meant to wound him.

* * *

The pulse of the man beneath her thumps pleasantly against the curve of her palm. Her mind is screaming at her and she tries to ignore it. She feels the stare of her two brothers at her back, a constant pressure to what she must do.

The next heartbeat of the man's life is his last. Her mind screams at her, it almost makes her dizzy. But she tosses her long black hair over her shoulder and she mentally pulls on the stoic face. Tifa turns around and her ruby red eyes meet her two brothers. Her eldest brother, Sephiroth's, with his long silver hair with striking blue green eyes, mouth curls into a smirk and his hands come together in a short clap. Vincent, her other older brother with his porcelain skin and long black hair with his darker red eyes, remains stoic.

"Good job sister. In no time, you will rid yourself of your pathetic soul." Sephiroth, The Demon King, says.

Tifa nods once to her brother and watches him take his leave. Mentally, her fists are clenching in anger. But despite her anger, his words ring true because the voice has stopped if only momentarily. Vincent approaches her a bit hesitantly. He stops to stand in front of her and asks if she is okay.

"I'm fine." Tifa grinds out but then softens her eyes slightly for a brief moment. Vincent nods in response and brushes his knuckles against her cheek in brotherly affection before taking his leave.

Two princes and one princess are the children of a Demon King and his half human and half demon wife. The eldest son, Sephiroth, was the most demonic. Sephiroth took in the Seven Sins at birth, marking him to become the next Demon King and telling his fate of killing his father to take the role. Vincent, the second son, was born mostly demonic with a torn up shred of a soul. His demonic self had basically eaten his soul and spat out the remnants of it. Still…a soul is a soul no matter how torn up it was. Lastly came the daughter, Tifa. She was as divided as her mother, half demon and the other half an intact soul.

To quell the voice of her soul, Tifa has been tormented to kill. As a child, she remembered being held closely by Vincent as she watched demons and men being slain. She remembered crying afterwards for many years because she couldn't stand the torment of her mind until she had been punished enough times to shut up.

Her mind constantly whispers: '_You could've done something! A life is gone because you didn't do anything! Their blood is on your hands!'_

Growing up, Tifa became forced to kill. The stain of blood would be the strength of her demonic self, to kill the soul. Her parents had hoped that she would end up with something like what Vincent had, a torn up shredded soul in which the demonic state had almost all control of. Still, the throbbing of her soul only grew. She stopped crying and refusing. She had learned long ago to simply pretend that her soul had been eaten up and spat out. And finally, she was relieved of killing and watching death in its work.

That was until her eldest brother became the Demon King. He was reluctant to believe and often times sent her in the place of another demon to kill. He wanted to ensure that she was demon; he wanted to show the people that his sister was truly the Rose of the Black Moon. Tifa's fought and killed; and still her soul relents, pushing away the darker nature of her birth. Finally, Tifa has simply learned to bury her soul, to ignore it. She hoped that if it remained buried, it would rot inside of her.

If it would only rot inside of her, she would be free of the horrid chains that tied her. She was the Demon Princess, sister to the Demon King. Despite the fact that Sephiroth and Vincent was cold and would kill without much of a thought, they loved her. Being the Demon Princess and the loved sister of both the king and the prince, forced all beings of the Underworld to respect her. They had to bow to her and fulfill any orders she gave out. Still, they whispered against her and more than once had she been plotted against.

Still, her mind shouts inside of her.. _'Just let me be. Let me see who I am and not what you force me to be.'_

A tormented demon with a soul, without the desire to kill. And no matter how many souls of humans she takes and how many demons she's slain, the people whisper against her. She's held life in her hands and crushed in between her fingers. She's thrown people in the pits of fires that lead them to Oblivion. She's fought her opponents and those who have tried to hurt her.

'_Fight and kill! It will be the only way to kill your soul!'_ The voices of her parents scolding her from memories belonging to her childhood.

And still, no matter what she does and what lengths of protection Vincent and Sephiroth offer, the people whisper against her. She was supposed to be Rose of the Black Moon as the princess of the Underworld. Yet no one addresses her so despite the fact that she has earned the title with her conquests. And still she will never seek out the pleasure of killing anything or anyone. She does it because it is necessary, an order. But she never devours the souls and never seems to enjoy it. This is what marks her from being a strange demon.

"_Such a waste of power."_

"_Why does the King not kill her? She defies all rules of the Underworld and still she lives!"_

"_Such glorious powers being restrained. Pathetic. I could be in her role and enjoy it." _

'_She should've been an angel!'_


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** I'm excited to be posting this chapter. I've been writing non-stop on a lot of my stories because I want to get them out there already! I hope you've all been reading and enjoying. Please don't forget to review!

And important note is to know that **YES I DO KNOW THERE ARE TWO ZACKS IN THIS STORY. **You'll find out why in future chapters. So keep reading and reviewing and someday, we'll make it to that point.

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**Full Summary: **They were both misfits belonging on polar opposite worlds. When they meet in the middle, they decide to do the ultimate act of defiance…they decided to switch themselves. By doing so they entered a bond stronger than any magic that would lead the world as they know it to end. But this is a story about their love and the powerful bond that lead one demon to be turned into an angel and an angel to demon.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FFVII but I do own this story.

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In the Underworld, Tifa was gritting her teeth. She had previously been enjoying her day at the castle's library, sitting in a dark velvet chair with a candle next to her reading in the dimly light room when her brother came in. Her ruby eyes watched him as he grandly sunk into a nearby chair facing her. Her fingers tightened unnecessarily on her book. She just knew she wasn't going to like what Sephiroth had to say.

For a few brief moments, there was silence. The servants closed the doors to the library, effectively sealing Tifa and her eldest brother in the room together. She was tempted to just break open the door anyways but knew that she would probably be punished for such defiance to the Demon King. Since it didn't look like Sephiroth was going to speak anytime soon, Tifa decided to break the silence herself.

"May I help you, brother?"

He smirked, flashing gleaming white teeth. Even from her seat ten feet away, she could see the fangs that glinted in the dim lights. Tifa closed her book and managed to set it down on the side table next to her without slamming it too hard. She didn't reply for a while, merely crossed her legs and sat up straighter.

"I have a few things I wish you to do for me." The silver haired demon answered. Despite the fact that he said "wish", there was still a blatant demand in the sentence he so elegantly stated. Tifa's fingers crossed her arms across her chest to keep him from seeing how her fingers tightened into a fist.

Her mind quickly flashed through several options for what he would want her to do. There were many things he could command her to do that she would not like. Things like going to collect demonic taxes [which isn't at all easy because demons were greedy creatures for god's sakes and wouldn't give up anything of theirs] or going to boring demonic meetings which often erupted into fights. Her mind ran through several instances of things her Demon King brother would demand of her but none of them came close to what he actually asked of her.

"I would like it if you went to the Middle Ground."

"The what?" She shouted, eyes widening in shock.

Sephiroth only nodded in response, patient and slow as if eh was explaining a math concept to a young child. "That meeting is tonight and I would like it if you went in my place."

Tifa sat back in her chair, contemplating. The meeting her brother was talking about was one in which the rulers of the Underworld and the Above came together in the Middle Ground, otherwise known as Earth to discuss rules in keeping the balance. Thousands of years fighting and hating had only led to some sort of truce. There was still battles that erupted between the two species and even those had certain boundaries that ensured there would be no full fledged war breaking out.

How hard could it be? After all, the rules that have been agreed upon had hardly changed throughout the hundreds of years it has been implemented. So the Demon King's sister simply shrugged in response and he took it for a yes. As the Demon King got up from his chair and prepared to leave, Tifa's voice stopped him before his hand touched the door knob.

"Sephiroth?" Eyes narrowed, he looked behind his shoulder in response. His glare didn't disturb her whatsoever.

"What do I wear in the presence of God?"

He laughed at her. His amused deep rumble that still resonated with evil echoed throughout the room. A pale silver eyebrow cocked up. "You don't dress up when you come to see me, dear sister."

The Princess of the Dark Moon gave him a cheeky smile. "You're rarely that special to me, brother."

He ignored her and simply reminded her to complete the Trade. The trade was exchange of angels or demons. Sacrificial lambs as Vincent called them. They were merely a formality, a way to project the sense that there was peace. Once that was completed, demons and angles would continue to find ways to fight each other in the Middle Ground so long as they were somewhat discreet about it.

As Tifa rose in an attempt to follow her brother out the door, Sephiroth stopped her.

"Tifa?"

"Yes?"

"I have one more task for you." His long pale fingers brought up a small blue orb and sent it ghosting down to her. "This is your next prey. Find it and kill it while you're at the Middle Ground, just ensure that God doesn't find out."

Her gut clenched. This was the bad news she had been expecting. This was a challenge and a demand to kill. With her emotionless mask on, Tifa reached out to grasp the small glowing orb. A piece of someone's soul as a scent for a predator to track it by. The orb glowed and the warmth spread across her body like laughter or sunshine. Tifa didn't respond and simply walked on towards her room. She didn't have to, there was no such thing as rejection against the Demon King.

Tifa decided to wear a simple black and white cocktail dress and tall leather black boots. Walking over to the far eastern side of the Underworld, where the magic was at its "weakest", she met Zack. He was the epitome of a male demon with sinful beauty. Zack was a tall man but his long spiky black locks gave him the illusion of further height. He wore all dark clothes and sometimes when Tifa came to meet him, she only looked for the glow of his eyes to know he was there against the bleak background. Exchanging smiles, he got to work.

Zack was an irreplaceable demon. Tifa thinks that even if Sephiroth tried to find a replacement for Zack, he wouldn't be able to. There were very few demons that could be irreplaceable in a world where things filtered in and out like a ghost passing through walls. One moment they existed and the next they didn't. Zack had been in the Underworld for as long as anyone could remember. He guarded the weakest point of magical strength in the Underworld and he opened portals to the Middle Ground.

When the blurry lines started to appear, Tifa knew it was time. And with that, she slipped into the portal like water through rocks in a river. In a blink, the demon princess was gone.

* * *

White is never a comforting color to Cloud. His entire landscape growing up was a small selection of white, cream, and all other "shades" of white. It represented his home in which he was looked down upon, left alone, and shunned from society. It represented to him the two faced nature of being accepted one moment and rejected the next. He stands there and his eyes remain fixated upon the long length of white marble stairs. The stairs that lead up to his mother, queen of the Above.

"How could you, Cloud? How could you?" Elizabeth shrieked.

The blonde said nothing. His endlessly blue eyes remained fixated on the white stairs before him.

"You are a general, a solider! Your fighting and your killing is to remain on the battlefield! Not on your comrades."

Cloud had to bite his tongue from retorting. His comrades? They were men who sneered at the mere thought of him. To his people, the prince was like a time bomb waiting to happen. A disaster waiting to erupt. They never saw him as more than a tool, something they could use to gain victory. If it came down to it, if he was lying in a pool of his very own blood, they'd be glad he was dying.

"And to think, you nearly killed a fellow angel, Cloud!"

His heart lurched at that. He never meant to hurt. He didn't want to kill. And to know that his own mother even feared him, her own son…stung.

"You need to learn to control The Taint."

Cloud mentally sneered at that. _The Taint_! He felt like the very bane of his existence was due to that inheritance. The heirs of the throne to The Above hold The Taint. The Taint is the sins of the angels held in a concentrated form. It is symbolic that the rulers of the land hold the burdens of the people. If the person is to overcome The Taint and be able to rule the demonic voice in their minds, they could become the leader. It is part of the markings, the things a higher being angel must deal with in order to rule.

"You won't be able to rule if you can't control The Taint."

"I will rule despite what you wish, mother. I am the proper heir to the throne." He retorted.

Elizabeth sneered at this. She didn't have a chance to respond because the guards opened the door to the chambers and dragged in an angel in the process of being healed. The angel was the person Cloud had fought the day before. He didn't look at him, Cloud didn't need to see him to know the amount of damage he had inflicted on him. Elizabeth slipped back on a detached mask and spoke with a calm and levelheaded voice.

The angel kneeled before the queen and held in any grimaces he might've had from the effort to do so. He kept his head bowed. Cloud remained standing and staring off.

"I had been informed that you had provoked the battle with a challenge."

"Yes, ma'm."

"You clearly know the rules. For breaking such rules, you must be punished."

"I will gladly accept the punishment you give me in order to redeem myself."

Cloud steeled himself for this. His inner Taint voice said, "_See how disgusting you are. Being emotionless and without pity to the man who is going to be destroyed. You're a low life Cloud."_

Elizabeth only hesitated for a moment before she condemned the angel. "You are to have your wings stripped and sent to Davy Jones locker. When there, you will be sorting out souls to their rightful path for 100 years."

The angel nodded and stood up with as much grace and dignity as he could muster. His brown eyes glared at Cloud with as much hatred an angel could possibly muster before leaving.

"For you, Cloud, your punishment is to go to the Middle Ground. You are to meet with the Demon King in my place tonight."

Oh great.

"You are dismissed."

As he turned to leave the room, his mother's whisper flowed into his ear. It might as well have been shouted across her throne to him. And he tried not to let it hurt but in the end…it felt like a sledgehammer had been dealt to him.

"_Everyone says you should've been a demon."_

_

* * *

_

Tifa leaned against the cool metal of the railing. The ruler of The Above was late. She stared at the dark sky stretched out above her, seeing the beauty of the stars. Tifa huffed impatiently. A dim flash of light caught her attention when she spotted it from the corner of her eye. Such lights were unnatural in the Middle Ground, to a being like herself anyways. Out of the light came out a man. The light seemed almost drawn to him even in the middle of the night. He held the appearance of a man she had never seen before in the world. He had unruly golden spiky hair and he was perhaps only one or two shades tanner than she. He wore all white and he was a bit on the thin side but through the material of his clothing, Tifa could sense all the muscles that rippled as he moved.

The man came closer to her. From a short distance away, Tifa could see the glow of his eyes. They were a color she had never seen before and such color sent an excitement through her spine. They were beautiful and captivating. It was exhilarating.

When Sephiroth told her she was going to meet God, she had been expecting a much older man. But the man who stopped and stood in front of her, merely looking at her with such an emotionless face of strong jaw and almost feminine cheeks, looked almost her age. However, in the Underworld and Above, looks are always deceiving.

Cloud looked at the woman in front of him. She was thin with the most sinful curves he had ever seen. Her long raven black hair windblown, the smell of the sea clinging to her skin to his sensitive nose, and the bright stunning ruby eyes that stared back at him. He could sense power in her despite the fact that she almost looked fragile. He could tell she tried to hide it in the way she upheld herself with such rigor. He wondered what caused this delicate beauty to be standing in front of him. All the stories of the Demon King, now he supposed it was only proper to call her Demon Queen, of being a cruel hateful creature didn't seem to be able to grasp the creature in front of her.

They were silent for moments. Neither was what they had expected to meet. A Demon Queen and a young God? They looked far too alike, too much seemingly the same age. Unknowingly, they have many more qualities that made them similar, past appearances and deeper to the soul.

"I'm sorry for my tardiness." Cloud spoke first, breaking the pregnant silence of heavy questions.

"I hadn't expected God to be so late."

Cloud was shocked. God? Someone would think he was God already? He felt excited. Someone thought he was God! A feeling of elation came over him. After a brief moment, logic came back to him. This was a demon after all. One who has probably never seen God before, after all this meeting came only every couple of decades. Perhaps this was a new Demon King as they often changed due to power struggles, although Cloud couldn't recall hearing about a new Demon King.

"God would be a she. I'm her son." Cloud stated, bowing to her slightly, thinking she was the Demon King.

Tifa shook her head and quickly stopped his movements before he could even bend his waist down a little.

"Oh! I'm not the Demon King! I'm the Princess of the Black Moon."

Cloud's eyebrows narrowed in confusion. The princess of the Underworld? What was she doing here?

Before he could say anything further, the beautiful woman with long coal black hair and sad ruby eyes started talking. She was talking a lot for a demon, he had expected someone stoic and cold. But here, the woman in front of him seemed so lively and animated that it seemed like the black wings sprouting from her back were parts of his imagination.

"It's strange that both the heirs to the worlds have come."

Tifa looked at the man next to her. He was very stoic and cold and a shiver ran up her spine. She would never be able to understand what that shiver was out of, pleasure or fear. She shrugged her thoughts away about the blonde man in front of her. Instead she thought about the mission she had been assigned. She'll have to think of ways to trick him later. But for now to distract herself from her own wandering thoughts….

"You were late."

"Pardon me…?"

"I'm Tifa." Tifa answered, looking at him with a small tilt of her head. She has retreated back into her demonic shell.

"I'm Cloud. My apologies for being so late."

And that was how it started. Two heirs from different worlds, opposing worlds, met. It was a silver of uncharted chance that was thrown together. Unexpected and unplanned, without any other ulterior motive. And sometimes, a silver of pure chance thrown together was enough to start something that could change the worlds and hearts and minds.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I used quite a bit from the original UMB but I actually liked the scene where they meet so I hope you don't mind. This was a very long chapter. A little too long and I hope it was okay. I hope it was more "showing" than "telling" and that for the most part, the tenses were okay. Either way I just hope you all liked it and will review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:** I'm so frustrated with myself! Why? Because I've finished this chapter a long time ago and even uploaded it onto the site but I just never published it! So it's very frustrating to find out that the entire time I've had this thing stored up, I've also kept you from reading it. I'm SO sorry! But I've decided that even if it's a lot of work, I'm going to continue to try to post chapters at least once in 2 months. I haven't finished many multi-chaptered stories, actually I don't think I've finished any at all. So I'm going to put in more of an effort to do so. It's a plus for all you guys who will have more to read! Thanks for the reviews everyone, they were very special =]. Please keep it up!

As before I have tweaked Marlene and Denzel so they would be twins.

I'm also still looking for a beta so please let me know if you're interested!

* * *

**Full Summary: **They were both misfits belonging on polar opposite worlds. When they meet in the middle, they decide to do the ultimate act of defiance…they decided to switch themselves. By doing so they entered a bond stronger than any magic that would lead the world as they know it to end. But this is a story about their love and the powerful bond that lead one demon to be turned into an angel and an angel to demon.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FFVII but I do own this story.

* * *

They were staying at a small villa near the shore. The entire villa was made from wood and its exterior made it look like it was a cabin meant for the middle of the woods. It had red roof tiles and a chimney; its windows and door had been painted a bright red that blended easily with the warm tones of the wood. The interior had been neatly furnished with white and black furniture and had two beds on the upper sleeping loft.

Tifa rolled to her right side, staring at the figure a few feet away from her. When they had flown over to their destination, they had gone straight for the beds. She had been pretending to sleep. She waited a few hours when she could no longer hear him shift along his bed looking for a comfortable position and his breathing evened out before she sat up. Noiselessly, Tifa slipped out of the loft.

She still had a mission to complete. Drawing out the small orb to refresh her senses, Tifa set off. She was lucky that the person she had been assigned to kill was in the area where Cloud and her was staying. The further away it was, the more flight time she would have to contribute to traveling and she would have a hard time explaining where she was to the blonde haired angel.

Her mission took her to the dangerous parts of the streets in a city downtown. It leaded her into a dark alley between a restaurant and a small electronics store. Tifa landed in the shadows and kneeled onto the dusty ground. Her glinting red eyes searched for the body that contains the soul she had been ordered to take.

Tifa summoned the demonic side and swiftly strode over to her prey. As she approached, the shorter her prey seemed to become. Just as her hand was inches from her desired mark, the figure turned. Tifa froze. Her inner mind screamed in agony. A child! A child!

She blinked, hoping that by doing so, it would wipe away temporarily her human soul's wails or the fact that there was a child standing in front of her. But when she opened her eyes, there were two children. Two children sharing the same soul imprint…a pair of twins. The fact only tore her mind apart.

"_Children! You're going to murder innocent children!"_

Her demonic said that _looks were deceiving, even children can be sinners. Look at the cases where children murder their parents, rape others, and steal_. But her soul said that _children were children and innocent to the core until corruption of others fall upon them_.

The little boy eyes glared at her from under shaggy light brown hair. He was thin and pale and the clothes that he wore were dirty and hanging off of him. There were sure signs that represented malnourishment and homelessness. The twin sister, with her equally dirty body and tangled mess of brown hair that had been clumsily been put into a braid, peeked out from behind her brother. The boy was holding out his arms, looking ready to be beaten but also prepared to stand there to defend his sister. The image broke her heart.

Tifa relaxed her risen hand that had been brought up to attack. She took a deep breath and for once, her mind seemed silent. It became void of demonic voices and a soul. Maybe for once, she was going to do something on her own without her inner voices directing her. Tifa kneeled down until she was face level with the children.

"I won't hurt you." She whispered. Her mind only supplied "at least not anymore". The boy's muscles relaxed slightly but they were still raised. She could tell that they were still prepared to tense and fight at any moment she might end up betraying them. Such worn down children by harsh realities that they were still too young to understand.

Tifa reached out a hand and for brief moment, there was fear that flashed in the children's eyes. "I'm Tifa. I'm an angel and I'm here to help you."

A lie but a necessary lie.

"Why are your wings black?" The girl asks. They don't give out their names yet, remaining wary in case she turned out to be someone who will squeal on them.

Tifa was quick to respond in case taking too long causes them to grow more nervous. "It's dark and I have to blend in. Can't let everyone get a guardian angel, right?" She says with a wink and a soft laugh.

It seems to get them. The boy lowers his arms and the girl steps out of her brother's sheltering body. Her demonic side hisses: "_It's not too late; it'll be an easy kill now that they trust you."_

Before Tifa can react upon such thoughts, the girl happily introduces herself and her brother. "I'm Marlene! And this is my brother, Denzel!"

"Who is two minutes older!" Denzel announces quickly after.

She smiles, even after Marlene huffs that two minutes hardly warrants enough time to be considered older. The demon tunes their voices out as she struggles to think. Ignoring all the inner voices waging war against each other in her head, she must think for herself. She'll have to find them some place suitable to hide. She will probably need something to track them with in case another demon finds out that she didn't take her prey and tells Sephiroth. Then she'd be in big trouble.

Tifa stands up and gathers the children in her arms. She tells them to hang on only seconds before she shoots up into the sky like a rocket. She places them on the rooftop of a jewelry store and after ensuring that they will not leave; the demon beaks into the deserted jewelry shop. She takes a wolf head ring on a silver chain and a white gold charm bracelet. Simple useless trinkets human used for decoration.

A few spells later, Denzel is wearing the necklace and Marlene is wearing the charm bracelet. Quickly after, Tifa sets off for an orphanage. The sun was rising and that means in a mere few hours, her little….partner will be awake and questioning where she was. She must maintain all faces of good behavior.

When the nun opens the door to the orphanage, Tifa casts more magic. Soon, she won't have much left in her to keep herself hidden from plain sight as well. The faster this all goes, the better. Before she sets off, Tifa can't bear to just leave them there. She kneels so that they're eye level again and waits until she sends off the nun to prepare the children's beds before she speaks to them.

"Whatever you do, never ever take off what I've given you."

"But why?" Denzel asks, eyebrows slanting downward in seemingly deep thought. His fingers clutch his new prize against his chest.

Tifa doesn't answer for a few minutes. The truth was that they were casted with locator spells and protection spells. If anything magical came into contact with them, it would protect them and inform her of their whereabouts. If anyone was to find out that she didn't…kill these children, there was going to be a much higher price than what Sephiroth had originally asked. And knowing her brother…the price normally meant worlds of pain for both her and the children. She didn't mind herself, after all she was immortal. But the children would probably crack under the pressure of one punishment the Demon King had in mind.

"They are something that you can use to contact me." Tifa tells them instead. The truth meant exposing her lies.

After ensuring that both Marlene and Denzel were safely in the orphanage, Tifa set off quickly. A mere half an hour left of darkness that she could hide in and her destination seemed hours away. But she barely makes it and she stumbles along the house to reach her bed. She hopes the angel has enough sense to make sure he doesn't wake her. Magic drained and flight wary, Tifa collapses onto her bed with a smirk on her lips.

In a way, Tifa just did something good and something bad.

* * *

When he first awoke in the middle of the night, Cloud automatically looked to where Tifa was. To his surprise and sleepy mind, the demon was not there. Shrugging it off as something like drinking water or going to the bathroom, Cloud had slipped into the grasps of sleep rather easily.

But at the starting cracks of dawn and the sunlight streaming in, the blonde had woken up. He tried to look for his partner, the demon with sinful curves. But when he touched the bed to seek her warmth, it only revealed to him that it had been cold for a long time as he slumbered.

Unsure of what to do, Cloud rocked back on his heels and fluidly landed in his bed. Head in his palms, his mind churned out things Tifa could be doing.

* * *

**Author's Notes** Hopefully a long chapter. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, REVIEW!

REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes:** It's been a while. I just finished a hectic week of exams, one of which I failed miserably one. And what better way to redeem myself and cheer myself up than to write a story? I'm stuck in the apartment all by myself for the next 3 days and I'll be lonely. So keep me company by leaving plenty of reviews!

Standard disclaimer.

Also thanks so much for everyone who has reviewed!

* * *

Tifa woke up to a world that looked rather confusing. For one thing, she was on the carpeted floor and she was staring at a door. Was she dreaming? She sat up carefully and upon doing so, found herself dizzy. She laid back down onto the ground. She must've drained too much of her magic.

"Well, I guess now I know where you slept last night." A voice said from somewhere above her. Disoriented, Tifa tried to sit up again. She was grateful when the world didn't spin. Tifa turned around to see Cloud standing a few feet from her. She took the hand he offered to her and she was pulled fluidly up and into a chair.

"Where were you? I thought for sure you had fallen asleep next to me. Couldn't sleep on a soft bed, princess?" Cloud said mockingly.

She scoffed. "I was here."

"Bullshit. You used magic. That's why you're so exhausted. And also why you fell asleep on the floor thinking it's your bed."

"How can you even tell? Maybe I used magic to put myself to sleep."

"The same way you can tell if I used magic. Magic." Cloud said in a deadpan voice. He didn't tell her that she looked exhausted with her wings drooped forward and bags under her eyes.

She looked away at the window. Her lips parted and her teeth started to gnaw on her bottom lip.

"I'll fight you for it." Tifa said when she turned to face him.

"What?"

"I'll fight you for it." Tifa repeated. She clarified, "If I win in our fight, I don't have to tell you anything. If you win, I'll tell you the truth."

He accepts.

"Good thing I'll win. After all, you demons are pretty weak!" Cloud says mockingly. He is only trying to lighten up the air.

"Angels die so easily when we strike though! Better watch out, Strife!" She replies over her shoulder as she moves to the bathroom.

Cloud chuckles. And when Tifa is ready, they head out to an open space together. As they fly together across the city, they make more jokes. They land upon a field in the countryside. There is no sign of civilization or human in sight for miles and miles on.

They stand far apart under the moonlight. They suddenly become tense as the battle starts to commence when the demon and angel draws their weapons. They were born with innate feelings of hatred for the other being. Still, they now stand in front of each other with weapons raised and stiff wings ready for flight without the feeling of hatred driving them forward. They only felt fear and confusion.

Cloud was unsure of how to move. There was no dictation from hatred for the demon telling him where to move and how to attack. But he did want to win. He wanted to know where Tifa went. There was something that was wiggling in his mind, something that strikes his curiosity that tells him that Tifa did something bad. It would be something he'd be responsible for, after all, both of them aren't supposed to be doing anything with humans while they were on this truce meeting. Cloud has to win, he needs to figure out what she did.

Tifa toyed with the hilt of her blade. How to fight him, she wonders. Her mind flashes back to Denzel and Marlene. She has to protect them. She has to win. So Tifa launches first. A flash of her bounding upwards, over Cloud's head, another flash of her coming down on him. Left, right, behind. Instincts and adrenaline take over because when a fist comes down, Cloud raises his arm to block it. It hits him like a pat of rainfall. There is fear and holding back when he counters her attack with a right hook.

Tifa counters with a kick to his chest. He holds his breath, forcing his chest to come out to soften the blow. He inwardly knows that her kick should've knocked him on his back but his feet only slid back. She's holding back too. Muscles are tense and he feels…

He feels unsure. However with the knowledge that she was holding back as well, it bought something warm inside of him. She was just as afraid to hurt him as much as he was afraid to hurt her. The thought should've made him feel emasculated, but it only served to make him feel…warm.

"Is that all you got?" He mockingly asked.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, although the corners of her lips curved upwards slightly. "What about you? You didn't even land a scratch on me!"

"You didn't either." He pointed out.

The next blow she dealt him had more force behind it. So the fight starts. She taunts him. He counters. Each strike he sends at her inflames her and when she commences her next move, there is more force in it which also inflames him.

Her heart was pounding. There was excitement running their course through her veins. Her mind was laughing in glee and for once, there was no fighting of her internal demon and human. It was simply Cloud and her, fists clenching, muscles tightening, and the moves that flow out of her is like the river rushing to meet ocean. Sweat and the coolness it brings when the wind rushes against her skin when she takes flight. The hits she takes seem to heal within seconds even though Tifa knows that there is enough force in Cloud's hit to seriously damage her.

There was no voice of the Taint in his mind. There are no whispers in his ears directing his actions like a puppet. There is only the focus of movements, watching the opponent, and fluid actions of attack. There is a flight up, a flight down, steps to the side, and flashes of colliding limbs of body. There is no one to judge him, no one to look down on him because the ruby eyes that stare at him when she lands an attack are not judging but one that sees that he is a worthy opponent.

And for once, Cloud feels free. He calls upon his sword and Tifa only delights in it. He is only careful to make sure he doesn't cut her too badly. There is that siren call to him again for the fight and for the beauty of it and he answers freely and happily this time because Tifa can only match him.

Eventually magic comes into play. Power building in him until it finally explodes from his hands at her. For a moment, he can only stare in horror. His mouth agape, trying to scream to warn Tifa but the words seemed to have clustered together in his throat in their attempt to choke him. She stands there and his mind screams because she looks like she's too shocked by his attack to MOVE, damn it!

Cloud watches her raise a hand. But he only thinks that she should've attempted to move her legs. He is surprised when something comes out of her hands and the two pieces of magic collide violently and only explode into shatters of light flying around them.

Tifa and Cloud can only think one thing: _Equal. We're equal._

And they laugh. They laugh like children who have discovered a world that has never been known and can not be seen but by them. Tifa flies up, sending the bursts of light from their magic scattering like glitter in the wind, and he follows. She flies and flies higher up, she seems to be trying to fly to the moon.

And he follows and follows her higher up but always seemingly never able to get any closer. He thinks there's nothing more beautiful in this world of the Middle Ground and even his own world of the Above than her in the large expanse of moonlight. She looks illuminated, everything about her is shining. Even her oh too black wings, the moonlight has caressed it and he feels…blinded by it all. She stops when it seems that she can't go any higher. And Cloud can only stare and stare when he reaches. She looked so ethereal that he felt like he was waiting for her to disappear as the wind blew by.

When Tifa sees him, she thinks there can't be anything more beautiful than a man who seemed to carry the sun with them. The night was a velvet color and his golden hair and crystal blue eyes remind her of beaches on the postcards humans buy when they're on vacation. Although the moonlight has casted shadows upon his silhouette, it only serves to bring out the taunt muscles flexing in his arms and the hard lines of his face that seemed to have softened like a child. His white wings were like the moonlight itself. Her heart beats faster for other reasons than their spar.

So they stare as the wind blows past them. They have become too captivated to really feel time slip away because for creatures like themselves, time is endless and repeating. But Cloud moves first. There is grace in his hesitant steps, like he was walking on water unsurely, as he took the short distance to her.

"We're equal," he whispers.

"No…no we're not." She replies and suddenly her eyes are brimmed with pain and sadness. "There is no one equal to someone as me."

If it had been someone else, Cloud would've thought she was being too conceited. However, the tone in her voice like a confession of a shameful act could only make Cloud wonder.

"I'm too damaged. There is no comparison to a demon like I." She peeks over her shoulder and left wing to gaze at him. "Not for a demon that has a soul and a demonic side. I can't even kill the children I was assigned to."

Cloud is shocked. Before he can open his mouth to reply, to question whether she completed her mission, Tifa looks at him.

"I couldn't do it. And what kind of a demon am I? To go off protecting children rather than killing them?"

And he understands because he tells her, "We're equal for I'm an angel who carries The Taint, the sins of all angels. And all I want to do is kill and hurt. Angels aren't supposed to even have such thoughts."

Cloud reaches out, touches her gently. She turns around and when she looks at him, she knows. She knows his story because it is her own story. There might be different factors in them, but the story was the same. They were broken with contradictions sewn in and being torn apart by pressures to be only one half. Struggling to hold on to differences while trying to be the same. Trying not to crush like glass beneath the feet of higher power. Trying to stay standing in all their fights.

They float down. And for once, Cloud and Tifa can tell someone their story. They can tell each other with their own voices. A confession of the deepest kind that has stayed locked and trapped and tortured for far too long in their minds and hearts. A confession that could finally be unlocked and free and flowing.

And like the aftermath of their battle, Cloud and Tifa can only feel equal to each other. They have found someone who was equal to them. And they can only feel free.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I kept a lot of the old stuff in here with some minor changes. But I hoped you liked it anyways. It took me a while to get to this scene because I wasn't sure if it would be fitting. But please review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author' s Notes: **Back again! I couldn't stop thinking about this story and how I wanted to proceed with it but I finally thought of it. Enjoy! Please review!

* * *

"What would your dream be?" Cloud asked randomly on a morning where they watched the sunrise. Tifa had become accustomed to the angel's random questions. They were always deep questions, one that made her ponder and think.

"Demons don't dream." She answered. She knew this wouldn't be enough to satisfy the angel so she continued. "But I suppose…I'd want to be human."

"Human?"

She nodded. Without looking at his eyes, she continued to define her wish. "They seem so free. There are no rules for them. Even though there are laws that govern them, they can still break these laws. There is no expectation for them to be good or bad. It is their choice. That power of free will is…precious. Something we higher beings, although powerful, don't have."

Cloud grunted, lost in thought. Tifa let him be, used to his sudden mood swings. She turned away from the window. Cloud, however, watched her leave. He stared at her dark wings as the sunlight hit the soft feathers. Rather than capturing the beauty of a sunrise, it only captured how dark Tifa's wings were. He turned to look at the curtains framing the window and how they turned pink and a hint of purple as the sun poured in. Inanimate objects captured beauty and yet a beautiful being such as Tifa could not.

He'd find a way to change that.

* * *

As they near the end of their journey, Tifa and Cloud ponder all the things they were sent to the Middle Ground to do: drawing up The Contract. This Contract must be signed in blood and it is meant to balance the universe. What amount of human souls are delegated to which world, what amount of bloodshed they could shed of the other being, and who to kill off to maintain the so called peace.

Tifa and Cloud fly their way to the open field where they fought in silence. It was also the open field that witnessed their confessions to each other. They mutter the same incantation and a portal opens before them. When it comes to creating this Contract, both beings must enter a different dimension. This dimension is built to highlight the balance that they must maintain. It is a place of complete gray, neutral of light and dark. It is a small dimension, only big enough for a long table with merely two chairs at either end. One is meant for the Creator of the Above and the other is meant for the Demon King of the Underworld.

The Contract itself, in many ways, is a history record. It displayed terms from the oldest time, a time that was too distant in the past for any being to remember, and the current times. It was bound by the strongest magic. Terms are written out in the blood of both angels and demons. The general terms of the Contract had remained the same throughout the centuries. Equal amounts of human souls to both worlds. There had been times when certain demons or angles were wished to be destroyed, in order to maintain the power balance between higher beings.

The tradition it took for the Contract to be signed is that a small curved diamond blade must be used to cut both the angel's and demon's palm. Their blood must drip into a small plate as an ink jar. Each being must rip a single feather from their left wing, left wing for the placement of the human heart, and dip it into their respective ink jars. When the beings finish signing, the Contract rolls itself up and they are promptly shoved out of the dimension into the Middle Ground.

Cloud gestured Tifa to sit first. He even pulls out her chair for her. She accepts it with all the formality of her being. Tifa watches the angel as he walks to his chair. The demon can't help but wonder what they will draw up. She has had so many thoughts since their fight and their confession. Her emotions and her mind whirling, trying to make sense of everything. What confused her most was the behavior of the angel. She could tell he has been deep in thought and yet…she can't quite untangle it from his body language. Tifa crosses her ankles and folds her hands in front of her. She looks at Cloud in the eye and simply waits.

Before the demon can speak, the blonde angel beats her to it. "I wish for the Contract to remain the same. You take the same amount of human souls as we do."

As soon as Cloud had spoken of the Contract, it had appeared in the center of the table and rolled itself out. The Contract rolled out until it reached the ends of the table, looking like a table runner.

'He must want to kill demons then, if he's so easy to please.' Tifa thinks to herself. In all the history she has been alive to witness, easy Contract terms such as the ones Cloud is asking for means that there is bloodshed among the higher beings.

"How many demons do you want then?" The raven haired girl asks.

Cloud's cobalt eyes stare at her calmly. "Just one."

Tifa tilts her head, as if seeing him from an angle would mean she could comprehend his words better. "Who?"

"You." Cloud answers and her heart stops. And then it's beating quickly when the faintest hint of a smile appears on his pale lips. Absolutely beautiful.

But reality bit back at her. "You know that I am the Demon Princess. Direct heirs to the throne can not be sacrificed unless…"

"A Union was to happen between both direct heirs." Cloud finishes for her, as if he was proposing a perfectly mundane thing.

Tifa stands up in shock. She doesn't notice that her chair falls with a dull thud behind her. She blinks rapidly, wondering if the blonde angel in front of her will reveal himself to be a different person. "But in forming a Union between the direct heirs of both the Above and Underworld means that there is a high chance of…_switching_!" She shouts. She's trying to make sense of this. Why would he want to do this? Why? The world felt like it was tilting and Tifa wasn't sure if she could tilt with it.

Cloud looked calm, so calm that Tifa wanted to hit him. She felt like she was in a whirlwind and he looked like a breeze was merely passing by. He was proposing something extremely dangerous and he looked so calm about it!

"I've been thinking about this a lot since you told me you had a soul." The angel pulls out of his chair slowly. He stands slowly too, so slowly that her ruby eyes can't help but be captivated. "Since the Above thinks I should be a demon and the Underworld wishes you were an angel, why not try to tap that small chance in a Union where we could switch our powers? Switch the very fibers of our being so that we can enter the world we belong in?"

Tifa's knees felt weak. But she clung onto her pride. Don't let him see you being weak, she scolds herself. Her fingers curl into fists and her nails bite into her palms. The pain strengthens her. Before she can speak though, Cloud overrides her once again.

"Our Union," He begins, as he steps closer and closer to her. She doesn't know that she's stepping out to meet him halfway too. "Will have to be the strongest bond possible. We will be connected in mind, body, spirit, and power. All aspects of our entirety. This way, we will enter the world we should've been born into."

Her long locks of raven hair fly as she shakes her head in protest. "That can't work. The last time a pair tried this, the power was too great and it tore them apart!"

His eyes soften. His hand reaches out for hers. She slips her hand in his automatically.

"But you and I are different. We are both Direct Heirs. Every bit equal as the Demon King and God."

"Cloud, do you know how dangerous this is? If we switch but we fail at handling the power, we'll both die! There will be war!"

Tifa was shaking. She couldn't tell with what, anger or fear or excitement. She wanted it deep inside. Although she verbally argued against Cloud, it was logic that screamed these reasons at her. Deep inside, she wanted that small chance.

Cloud's hands tighten around hers and with a tug, pulls her to him. His arms wrap around her and his head settles at the crown of her head. His crisp white wings lightly brush against her dark ones.

"It'll work, Tifa." He mutters. "Believe me." He whispers against her ear.

The story of the transformation Cloud talks about can only be done by having formed the strongest bond of all. It is the complete surrender of power to the other. It's complete trust. It's one fo the strongest forces of magic that interconnect the mind and the soul, one that once established could not be hoped to be reversed. If it was broken, those who are in the bond are crushed, swept up in ashes. The bond transformation is the final stage of this transformation. It must be equal amount of power that these beings contain because what is taken must be given back.

The most important thing to a successful strong bond is the Unknown Key. If together, Cloud and Tifa could solve the puzzle of figuring out the Unknown Key, they can finally enter the Body Bond they are seeking. The final stage of this transformation would be complete. And from that moment on, they will become halves of a whole.

Cloud pushes Tifa back enough so he can see into her eyes. His hands untangle themselves from her fingers and they cup her face. Her ruby eyes sparkle. He presses a chaste kiss at the corner of her lips.

"Marry me, Tifa."

Tifa's fingers grip his forearms tightly. Something fierce was building inside of her and when she re-opens her eyes, there is strength in them.

"Be with me forever then?" She asks.

Cloud's lips break out into a small shy smile. Not a faint hint of a smile but a real smile. Tifa's blown away by the sheer simple intensity of it. His smiling lips are the ones that press another soft kiss to the other corner of hers.

"For as long as forever can stretch." He whispers against her lips. His breath sending tingles down her spine.

They close their eyes and rest their foreheads against each other. They take in one another's warmth. Their contrasting wings touched the tips of the others. Their mind was calm. This was the moment they were going to treasure. It was the only moment they knew where their life simple.

Together, Cloud and Tifa take the diamond blade and cut a shallow line in their palms. They force blood onto their plates. They pluck a feather from their left wing, one of the purest white and the other a broken black. They dip the end in their blood and side by side, they sign their name on the Contract.

This is the beginning of a story of breaking the rules. This is the beginning of a long hard journey, unknown and never traveled until now. This is the start of one of the strongest bonds any being can form.

And what is this bond?

That's the Unknown Key.

That's the treasure at the end of the journey.

It can be anything…it can be nothing. It can be the thing that makes…

Or destroy them.

It can be the thing that creates a new world…

Or the thing that is the key to the world's destruction.

What's this Unknown Bond?

Only time can reveal this secret.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes:** Back again! This chapter is almost entirely taken from the CCS version of this. I liked how I wrote it the first time so I didn't want to bother re-writing it. Enjoy!

* * *

It was suffocating hot. Her body ached and screamed in agony. Another hit and she screamed again.

"Unbelievable! Intolerable!" He screamed at her.

She was burned inside and out. She was bleeding, twisted in pain. She clawed her way further from him but still he persisted.

"Disgraceful! Insolent!"

She shut his words out. She tuned out her sensors in her mind, stopping the nerves from sending out electrical currents in her body to conflict pain. She shot another fireball at him. It hit him but he did not fall in pain.

"I can not believe you did this!" He shouted.

Tifa would've been dead if she had been another demon. However, she was the Demon Princess. By birth, she was strong enough to kill any demon but the Source. It would take a lot to kill Tifa. Vincent was only doing this to hurt her. Sephiroth was only doing this to show his anger, unleash it on the perpetrator. However, the silver haired Source stood by passively, watching. He sent out fireballs now and then but he let Vincent do the work. Her brother looked rather bored to be there.

Their fireballs chased after her, interlaced with magic to chase its target until it hit them. The central fire that reflected the Source's power roared angrily. Tifa shot two fireballs blindly, uncaring of whether or not they hit their intended targets.

"I _chose _to do this." Tifa countered, her back burning from the explosion of flames.

"You are not human! You may have a soul, Tifa but that does not mean you have free will!" Vincent roared. Suddenly it wasn't about hitting each other, it was about feeling skin. "Brother told you strike a deal with the Angel to keep peace. NOT trade yourself like a whore!"

His fingers locked around her slender neck, bruising the skin and cutting off air. Tifa laid passively on the ground.

"You told me to make the Contract. It would've been several of the strongest demons sacrificed."

"Damn it, Tifa! I don't care! Who is going to be the next Source if not you?"

"There is you, Vincent, to take on the role. And if even you get sent to Oblivion, if I can succeed in switching with Cloud, he can be."

Vincent responded by lifting up her neck and slamming her head down on the ground. Tifa stiffed a scream.

"What do you take me as? He's an angel for fuck's sake. You're a demon! So what next, you're gonna be the next God? You're gonna all send us to Oblivion, Tifa!"

Tifa suddenly wanted to cry when he mentioned this. The chance of Cloud and her failing meant war for both Underworld and the Above. It also meant the destruction of the World, forcing it to fall into the Era of Chaos. It would be all their fault. She wasn't sure she could handle the guilt.

She wasn't even sure if she could handle the weight of the world on her shoulders.

The idea…the mere idea that it could all lose because of her stupid silly hope was too much to stomach. The idea that if they failed, was hard to even phantom. Tifa wanted to push it away from her mind, bury it beneath ashes and forget the problem existed. The mere idea that she had started to hope and act on it was sickening.

She was a demon! She could not dream, she had limited emotions, and she could not hope. And yet she hoped, she hoped that someday she could be human or an angel. She was out of place in the Underworld. She hated the dull gray aura that surrounded it. She hated how the area seeped into her skin to try to hallow her out, make her just like everybody else.

And yet she hoped by some miracle she could be what she was meant to be. An angel. So when Cloud offered the Union to her for only a mere chance of being able to switch powers, she fell into the trap of her own hope.

And signed away the world's fate in her blood.

Now, all she hoped was that this could work. That Cloud and her would not die. She hoped that no one else but her and Cloud would be hurt by what they had agreed to do. She could not go back.

She didn't even want to go back.

She wanted to travel forward, although completely blind. She wanted to claw her away out of the darkness, holding Cloud's hand, and win.

Tifa hoped, and hoped, and hoped, and hoped, that in the darkness, she could run and fall into the arms of Cloud. She didn't want to fall on her face, lonely.

Suddenly Tifa wanted to hurl. The thoughts that bombarded her mind was too much. They were sickening thoughts for a demon. Hope, there was no such thing. Only fleeting moments of wanting something that could not be achieved. She felt sick that she suddenly depended on a man she has only known for two weeks. She felt sick that she depended on a man who had offered her this sick prize that without telling her of the consequences of losing. She felt sickened by the fact that suddenly…she wanted to be with this man.

Vincent pulled her up. His hands fell onto her shoulders and shook her hard. She could feel the anger coming off of him in waves. Her mind was spinning and she tried hard to focus on finding something to say back. Tifa looked to where her eldest brother sat. His menacing green eyes stared back. There was anger in those eyes. Tifa's not sure if she's ever seen anything but madness and anger in those eyes.

Her hands rested on her Vincent's, halting his movements for the moment. It took a few moments to gain her sight clearly but when she did, she did the oddest thing.

Tifa smiled.

It looked like a ghost had possessed her and smiled for her. It was faint, the light hitting the gloss of her lips was the only way Vincent could tell she was even smiling.

Her hands ran up to his shoulders. Her emerald eyes stared into his own dark eyes. It was entrancing, it felt like she was hypnotizing him. The demon felt calm suddenly and his figure slackened, a sign of trust.

"It'll be okay, someday." She whispered.

Tifa didn't say this for reassurance to her brother, she said this for herself. She repeated the words in her head.

She tried to make herself believe it.

* * *

Has this place always been so red? It was a violent color. The texture of it was slimy and thick, it was sickening. The light hurt. It brought out things too vividly, too exposed. The light gave no excuses. It was up in your face. It offered no shadows to hide from, shelter from the glare of the light.

He tried not to hiss as the arrow shot through him again. The whip hit his back and he screamed in agony. If his eyes traveled a little downward, he could see a new trail of blood sliding down his naked chest. He could also see the necklace that reminded everyone, including himself, who he was.

The whip came down again. Then the arrow surged through his chest. He screamed and blindly shook his body, trying to twist his ways from his shackles. He glared, like the light, at his mother whose only response was to send another arrow through his chest.

She said nothing. She only punished him slowly by putting him in agony. She did not show any emotions, simply did her duty. She could not look at him in the eyes when he glared at her. She could not force herself to stop hurting him because the pain he caused her was too great that it blinded her.

Cloud was chained up in thick metal chains that stretched to the crystal ceilings. The maid behind him hit him again with the whip and his mother formed another arrow and shot it through his chest.

It burned, it clawed at his organs and left it blistering. He was covered in blood. The once white room was only that sickening color of red that resembled too closely to blood. His wings were weak and soaked in blood.

At last, the whip halted and his mother had stopped launching arrows at him. Someone kicked him to the ground and he collapsed tiredly on the marble floor. The chains retreated, hurting him as they did so.

In the reflection of the marble, he could see twin rubies staring back at him. He heard steps retreating and doors closing. He heard the faint steps of his mother walking back to her throne, listless.

Ironic, Cloud thought, how he was punished for reporting something she had sent him to do but not for his gravest sins.

"How could you do this?" Elizabeth whispered. "How could you just sign away your life like that?"

"You've always said I should've been a demon. I was given the opportunity and took it."

"THIS IS DANGEROUS, CLOUD!" She screamed. "You can die! Then I will have no heir!"

"You're forgetting that this is a _Union_, mother." He replied. "It means if I become a demon, my future wife will become an angel. She can be the heir."

"She's a demon! No matter if she transforms, she has demon blood in her!"

"This is what you wanted, mother. You wanted me to be a demon, you wanted me to settle down, you wanted grandchildren."

Elizabeth roared, the place shook. Cloud gave a bitter smile.

"DON'T YOU DARE BLAME THIS ON ME!"

"Let me do this." Cloud whispered. "Let me be with her. Let me be where I belong."

The tears trickled down his face without his will. It just fell, mixing with the pool of blood gathering.

He wanted to do this, even if he failed, just knowing he had tried was enough. He did things in whole, never halves. He did things passionately and often without stopping. This made him often successful.

Cloud has always been shunned but embraced by the society. He was embraced for his birthright of being the next God. He was shunned for his dark ways that was not befitting of an angel. They invited him but kept him lonely and secluded in a corner. The more they did this, the more Cloud's defect grew larger unknowingly.

His biggest sin was never Lust, Greed, or even Vanity. His biggest sin was Anger.

As a child, being loved and hated at the same time did not go too well with a child. He could not understand that although he was invited to so many parties and everyone bowed to him, they left him alone and left him out. As he grew up, he was very popular but no one dared to come close to him.

It caused Anger to plant its seed and sprout. By age twelve, the sin had created the defect that was irreversible. Once one sin was in an angel, any of the others could enter. The next sin Cloud encountered was Pride.

Unable to break from his hated but loved identity, he started to take Pride in it. He did everything he could to be hated. He did things that broke the rules of the Above and made people talk about him. He took Pride in breaking angels to his will. He enjoyed the idea of wrecking hell without the consequences. So he started to do more of it.

He was gambling in something that has never been really traveled through. If he failed, fallen into the darkness, slipping away from his partner, then at least he had tired. He could be happy with that.

Cloud slipped into the welcoming arms of darkness. His mind dimmed away from his thoughts. He didn't have to think about what could happen if he died, how his mother would feel. He didn't have to wonder if anyone would miss him if he died. He didn't have to think about the World slipping into an Era of Chaos. The only comfort he took was the darkness in which all his thoughts slipped away, melted like snow in a spring day. The only other comfort was knowing that if he failed, he didn't have to die a lonely bastard.

Cloud once read that: "Pleasure is the bait of sin."

And having met Tifa and being with her for those fateful two weeks, was undeniably the most pleasure he had ever encountered. And he hadn't even touched her intimately until the signing of the Contract. When she was in his arms, he wanted to be there forever simply holding her. After that moment of pleasure, that moment of knowing that they were in this together, they signed in blood of their Union.

And began the greatest sin.

But oh…such a sweet sin. An angel being with a demon. Inwardly the angel born with a demon inside, inwardly the demon born with an angelic aura. Opposites that attract. Such sweet sin, going against the rules. Rules were meant to be broken after all.

Beautiful sin….

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**Author's Notes: **I hope you enjoyed it! Review!


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